Demi-human Girls Completion Manual
Chapter 420 - 6. Social Research on Grey Bird Species

Chapter 420: 6. Social Research on Grey Bird Species

"Um, alright... if we’re going to talk about the Grey Bird Species, then I have to start with whom they once served loyally, the Phoenix Species."

Emhardt floated in midair, speaking while his body slightly opened up, inside, the thick pages of a book turned rapidly like rotating gears.

Through the pages he unfolded, Fisher saw the many texts undergoing changes on those flipping sheets, which sometimes contained Nali script, sometimes Schwali, and Northern language, until later on, they were full of scripts Fisher had never seen before.

As the pages turned, an inspired glow burst from the covers of Emhardt’s book, and his eyes grew wiser, his tone of describing these contents becoming more assured,

"Legend has it that the Phoenixes lived on a huge ice-frosted Wutong Tree, which grew upside down deep in the Snow Mountain, with branches longer than any mountain range you’ve seen, and leaves wider than any island you’ve encountered. Over the span of time, they resided on that Wutong Tree, unseen by all living creatures of the Northern Realm, their presence only celebrated in the tales passed down by word of mouth."

"But when the Northern Realm was touched by the Chaos Species from the Spirit Realm, the Phoenixes, as if they had anticipated it, flew down from the Wutong Tree, leading the creatures of the North in a desperate fight. With the joint efforts of all living beings from the North, the carriers of the Chaos Species were ultimately slain, and their consciousness returned to the Spirit Realm."

"In this war that united the North, the Phoenix Species made the greatest contribution, rightfully revered by all as the King of the North; next were the six ranks of demi-human species that swore fealty to the Phoenix Species, and the Grey Bird Species you wish to understand now, is the foremost among these six."

"They were considered the closest to the Phoenixes, a race that had lived generation upon generation at the base of the giant ice-frosted Wutong Tree, atop the Snow Mountain, tasked with the important duty of protecting the Wutong Tree. After the war ended, the Phoenix King led all the Phoenixes back to the Wutong Tree, leaving the borders of the Northern Realm to her three children to govern."

"She requested the Holy Descendants to forge four Divine Weapons for her and her children. She had her children swear on the Mother Sword in their hands to protect the symbiosis of lifeforms in the North, to follow the guidance of fate, and to uphold its beauty and peace... It is recorded that apart from the Snow Mountain, the Phoenix divided the Northern Realm into three sections, each bequeathed to the three esteemed sons of the Phoenix alongside the six demi-human species."

"But that was a very, very long time ago, a lot of time passed since the Grey Bird Species collectively migrated elsewhere in the Northern Realm following the Phoenix’s Son..."

The turning of pages within Emhardt’s body ceased, and he continued,

"However, since the female captain has the Ice Prince’s Sword, I guess the Grey Bird Species and another race followed the Phoenix wielding the Ice Prince’s Sword to the southernmost tip of the Northern Realm, which is now the location of the Sardinia Female Country, perhaps to guard against the Chaos Species attacking the North by sea again... But I can’t be certain, after all, I pieced together these details from many hazy poems."

Upon hearing this, Fisher, who was still pondering with his hand on his chin, raised an eyebrow; he initially thought Emhardt’s source of information was a historical book from the Northern Realm, sealed in dust. He did not expect it to be from poems with artistic interpretations, which made him suddenly question the veracity of the previous information.

Seeing a subtle change in Fisher’s expression, Emhardt immediately knew what he was thinking, and let out a frustrated huff, looking at him and shouting,

"You human, don’t think I’m explaining so quickly now, do you know how long it took me to collect all these poems? Sometimes a poem’s first half is sunk beneath a lake in the Northern Realm, and the second half has run off to the library of an Abyss Demon. After a fierce fight, I got to see this historical segment... Anyway, that’s how Paimon recorded it, if you have any issues, go ask her, it’s not my responsibility."

In essence, all Emhardt knew was suspect second-hand information, since he himself hadn’t lived through that era, which was so ancient that no trace was left—possibly Elliog might know.

Nevertheless, though it was second-hand, there were still valuable aspects within it, for in the "Demi-human Girls Completion Manual," within the sequence tag [Snow Mountain Clan], he indeed saw there were six different types of demi-human species listed, including the Grey Bird Species.

Although his Completion Manual was somewhat lacking compared to other Manual in various aspects, when it came to demi-human girls, calling it second was something no other Manual would dare claim first.

So, if the six clans mentioned in the poems did indeed exist, how much of the other stories were also true?

Thinking this, he suddenly had a question, so he asked Emhardt,

"Wait, you said that after pacifying the Northern Realm, the Phoenix King returned to the Wutong Tree with most of the Phoenixes, leaving behind only her three children at the base of the tree... Yet now there’s not a single Phoenix to be seen in the North, so is it possible that the descendants of those three Phoenix’s Sons have gone extinct, and there are other Phoenixes still in the Wutong Tree deep in the Snow Mountain?"

"Ah, no one can be sure of that... But I do have a miscellaneous book here that contains a record of this story; take it as a story for entertainment, I don’t guarantee its authenticity."

After pondering for a second or two, Emhardt began to flip through the contents of his internal library once more,

"It’s documented here that the Phoenixes were exceedingly sensitive to fate, with the Phoenix King being the most outstanding among them. Legend has it that she could infer the future’s progression by the direction of the winds and snows of Snow Mountain, and she took most of the Phoenix Species back to the Wutong Tree because she foresaw a certain future fate."

"However, such matters are too ethereal, and so far, you humans have already explored Snow Mountain many times, but indeed, nothing was found inside, let alone the boundless, upside-down growing ice-frosted Wutong Tree."

"There’s a good chance the entire legend is false, that the Phoenix King actually perished long ago, and her three children, bringing the remaining clan members into the Northern Realm, fought among themselves until they wiped themselves out. I think this is more plausible, don’t you?"

Fisher had a rough outline of the past history in his mind, but he did not continue to ask Emhardt about the Phoenix Species; the conversation had almost veered off-topic. He was there to learn about the Grey Bird Species, after all. Thus, he steered the topic back,

"So, you still haven’t told me what the situation with the Grey Bird Species is like now."

"Oh, the Grey Bird Species... sorry, after all, I’m not some nobody, and when chatting I always like to inadvertently reveal a bit about the epic scenes of the past, just bear with... hey, hey, don’t get physical."

Watching as Fisher was about to resort to violence again, he dodged backward while flipping through the pages of a book,

"Let’s see, ever since the Phoenix fell silent, the Northern Subhumans who followed the Ice Prince Sword to South Shore from Snow Mountain have split into two factions. One faction wants to return to Snow Mountain to live and continue guarding the frosty Wutong Tree that the Phoenix Species has left no Trace of; the other faction intends to honor their promise to the Ice Prince and guard the South Shore of the Northern Realm for generations to come."

"The group of Grey Birds that have returned to live on Snow Mountain now hunt and eat grass in the snow every day, and there aren’t many of that kind left on the South Shore. They now all live in the Condor Bridge Feudal Country at the southernmost point of Sardinia Female Country, mixing with Humans for a bite to eat. And unsurprisingly, that female captain you fancy... cough, cough, friend, she hails from the Condor Bridge Feudal Country."

Condor Bridge, a phonetic translation from Northern Language, its original meaning is "Fortress of the South," which is also the part of the Northern Realm closest to Schwali on the Western Continent.

"Also, Grey Birds inherently possess a trait, that is loyalty. You can tell this long after the Phoenix disappeared as they still follow the oath their ancestors took. In other words, that Second Officer Ossie, who is under the female captain, will be absolutely loyal to her. If you plan to deal with her, the best way is to get the female captain to give the order—she will definitely listen... Oh, Emhardt, you really are terrible, and I just love it."

"...Is there anything else about the Grey Bird Species?"

"What else could there be? They are already so miserably mixed up, reduced to serving as guards for Humans, and it will only be after they are extinct from Human kingdoms in many years to come..."

"Alright, you’re useless to me now, go play with Karma and the others."

After confirming that Emhardt had no other useful knowledge to squeeze from, Fisher, while stroking his chin to clarify the information he had just received, shooed Emhardt away like shooing a fly, infuriating him so much that his book cover turned red, wishing he could curse Fisher with the most venomous language.

But at the same time, Emhardt feared this guy might treat him with brute force again. To prevent Fisher’s attack, he suddenly flew to a spot near the door, just about to curse when he felt that this distance could quickly lead to being caught if the other chased after him...

Humph, then this time I’ll just let bygones be bygones with the small stuff but insult you in my heart!

In Fisher’s eyes, the book that hovered mid-air swallowed the grievance and grumblingly went out of the room to find Karma and the others; after all, they should not set those filthy, smelly Rats on him again after learning their lesson.

Fisher then took out the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual and started to check the research progress of the Grey Bird Species,

[Grey Bird Species Research Progress: 17%]

[Grey Bird Species Social Research Progress: 36%]

The rapidly advancing progress numbers below immediately caught Fisher’s eye; he did not expect that obtaining knowledge through Emhardt could be useful!

The biological research progress of other demi-human girls he had studied always increased rapidly, but the social progress increased very slowly. This was because getting a picture of a demi-human society from a single individual was very vague, and the individuals he studied weren’t exactly social scientists who had done in-depth research. Because their explanations were unclear, the progress was particularly slow.

Now, with Emhardt, he could improve this situation.

In this way, he was responsible for the biological study of demi-human girls, and Emhardt for the social studies, and then the rewards from the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual would double once more.

Before Fisher’s eyes, lines of illusory text once again emerged from the Demi-human Girls Completion Manual, reading,

[You have unlocked the clan reward: Provides a hint that can determine the Snow Mountain Clan without binding to it, and the next research phase reward for the Snow Mountain Clan will increase by 20%.]

[Grey Bird Species Social Research Progress has reached 20%, unlocking the first stage reward:]

[Constitution +2, Loyalty -1, Anti-cold Ability +3]

"?"

As he looked at the illusory text, Fisher’s happy expression suddenly stiffened.